Drug trade in Daxia
The drug trade in Daxia is an activity that goes back centuries to the Zhong dynasty. Belying its status as a harsh and unforgiving police state, numerous drugs and addictive substances are actually legal to manufacture, sell and consume in the Repubic of Daxia. The nation is the world's top producer of opiates, crystal methamphetamine and captagon. Giant pharmaceutical conglomerates such as the Opodo Corporation and Samgor produce and market hundreds of tons of addictive substances every year, officially solely for internal consumption, but in all likelihood also for export by international trafficking networks with links to government figures.
Undoubtedly in addition to the enormous profits derived from the drug trade both legal and illegal, there are other considerations to take into account. The governmental pursuit of the creation of new, fresh horrors to control or break the minds and will of its people may be behind the legal status of addictive substances. Already the government has instrumentalized the use of opiates through colonial organs such as the Xisheng Office of Contentment to enact the wholesale sedation of unruly and restive populations to great success. According to leaked government timetables similar operations are planned to start taking place in Daxia controlled parts of League-occupied Varshan.
History
Opiod use in Daxia dates back to the 7th century, when it is believed to have been first introduced into the country through trading with merchants from the Arunid Empire. The poet Ye Chinchuan reported the use of opium as a sedative and and aphrodisiac in Shang noble circles and later among the urban middle classes. Opium was also received frequently from the Nasrad kingdom as part of the tribute system. The surviving imperial tallies record the annual receipt of fifty chests in 845, while during the late Qian period the figure was close to ten thousand chests or the equivalent to 650 tons of opium. The Zhong made important and succesful efforts to limit the consumption of opium by heavily increasing custom duties and taxation of opium itself in addition to a special tax on pipes and a steep increase in the price of licenses for purchasing agents. Some scholars at the Zhong court advocated for a complete prohibition of the substance on the basis of deleterious effects from overuse both from a health and moral points of view. The official Wan Shi Tung likened it to a gangrenous limb that needed to be cut off before it could kill the rest of the body. These efforts came to nothing as the incomes from regulating and taxing the product were most helpful in funding Zhong's military expansion and court expenses. Consumption plateaued during this period and remained steady at around 120 tons per year.
Restrictions were loosened again with the arrival of the Qian dynasty, whose clan members had a long history of usage and even addiction before rising to imperial power; the secret history of the Qian mentions the deaths of at least three Qian emperors to drug abuse. The substance was so popular and lucrative that great sums were invested into growing a domestic source; in the 1700's the Qian dynasty emerged as a leading producer and exporter of opium, as they no longer accepted opium as tribute they instead moved to take control of Nasrad's native opium operation through intermediaries. Qian opium found its way north all the way to Oyashima, west to to the Aab-e-farus and across the southern route to Sarpedon. Within Daxia itself the use of recreative opioids became continued to rise during the entire Qian period, with the Hongli emperor reportedly consuming them to counteract his frequent bouts of anxiety and psychotic breakdowns during the war; thousands of troops in the frontlines of Audonia also became addicted to the substance to calm their nerves during battle. The military governments that followed the monarchy tried very hard to tamp down on the use of drugs, especially in the armed forces that were the base of their power. They clamped down harshly on users, producers and traffickers when they could get their hands on them. Campaigns to burn opium poppy fields took place yearly, traffickers were hanged in public places in an effort to create fear, drug users were jailed, sent to mental asylums, exiled to camps and their families ostracized. These draconian methods failed to make a lasting dent, the astronomical profits meant that new criminal outfits such as the National Opium Syndicate were undeterred. By the 1970's the war on drugs was quietly and reluctantly shelved, and from then on the problem was basically ignored, leading to increased deaths from overdose and criminal infighting. The drug epidemic was one of the key ingredients of the erosion of authority of the NRF government known as the Slow Death.
The arrival of the PDD brought a change in the governmental approach to the drug problem. The new government saw drug use as an insidious tool to increase its grip on the population and as a revenue stream that could have explosive growth internationally. The new and now ideologically motivated intelligence apparatus infiltrated groups like the National Opium Syndicate, but instead of being destroyed, these criminal entities were coopted and directed to act in service of government aims. The crime bosses now had government minders, quotas to fill and very specific instructions of who and where to sell. Dissidents point to an entire superstructure organized from within the bowels of power to profit from the international drug trade. This network would include the largest pharmaceutical companies in Audonia such as Opodo Corporation and Samgor, banks and credit institutions, government ministries and the ever present security services. The Daxian government has consistently denied these accusations.
Manufacture
Heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the dried latex of the common poppy plant used for recreational purposes and sometimes prescribed medically as an acute pain reliever. One chemical method of heroin production involves isolation of the water-soluble components of raw opium, including morphine, in a strongly basic aqueous solution, followed by recrystallization of the morphine base by addition of ammonium chloride. The solid morphine base is then filtered out. The morphine base is then reacted with acetic anhydride, which forms heroin. Poppy cultivation in Daxia is heavily regulated by the state, permits are expensive to discourage small or artisanal producers; most permits are held by large corporations. Nonetheless there are rural areas where poppy is planted and sold for profit surreptitiously, mostly in impoverished western Daxia; the West Daxia Poppy Cultivators Combine (WDPCC) is a pressure group of recent creation that claims to represent thousands of poppy farmers and lobbies for the relaxation of cultivation bans.
Crystal methamphetamine
Production and retail sale of crystal methamphetamine is controlled by the pharmaceutical company Samgor. Samgor's operations account for some 85% of the Audonian methanphetamine market. Samgor has sprawling industrial laboratories on the outskirts of Hongse which are heavily guarded, most of its production takes place there. Samgor's meth is of a high percentage of purity compared to jungle meth like the one peddled by the Bando Gora, the price point is accordingly high. By law five percent of Samgor's profits must be funneled into programs designed to prevent drug abuse and addictions.
Captagon
Captagon is the commercial name for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride, the drug comes in two presentations, a pill or in powder form. This drug is known to have a powerful stimulating effect on the nervous system and was originally designed to treat depression, ADHD and narcolepsy. Other effects include boosting alertness, concentration and energy levels of a person allowing them to work for longer periods of time without resting, it can also stave off hunger. Production and commercialization of captagon is the exclusive right of the pharmaceutical giant Opodo, sole holders of the drug patent. Opodo supplies the Daxian government with captagon at cost, which is then given to prison inmates doing hard labor and to soldiers in active battlefronts to boost their combat alertness. Some side effects include sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, heart problems and hallucinations. Opodo's main captagon laboratories and industrial chemical plants are located in the eastern city of Khov, relatively close to the border with Rusana which is a big market for the drug. Opodo manufactured captagon pills have been making their way to Crona for several years now via a variety of means, the company denies any responsibility and points that the use or abuse of its product is the sole responsibility of the buyer. Daxia has negotiated an exemption on the production of the banned fenethylline compound with the League of Nations on behalf of Opodo. Fenethylline was banned in most countries in 1992 after it was blacklisted by the League's Convention on Narcotics. Opodo is currently in litigation against several countries on international tribunals due to its production of Captagon.
Criminal groups
National Opium Syndicate
One of Daxia's oldest criminal organizations, the Syndicate is rumored to be the group that provided opium to the imperial court during the time of the Qian dynasty and is believed to have existed in some form or another since at least the mid Zhong dynasty period. It reinvented itself from a supplier of drugs solely for the royal elites into a group that sold to all social strata and to foreign markets too. It survived the military crackdowns of Qiu Heng and his successors in the military regime albeit with its structure much changed by the ordeal of government sponsored bloodletting. From a pyramidal, highly hierarchichal structure, nowadays the group operates with a more flat organizational chart, being made up of many semi-autonomous territorial cells that each have an assigned province to operate in; government contacts and transport fleets are shared by the cells. The syndicate is rumored to be engaged solely in transportation and street level sales of opioids within the Audonian mainland and the southern Cathay, with production shifted to other entities. Security experts believe a man named Zhenli Ye Gon to be the top leader of the organization, its 'General Director'. If he has any actual operational control or is only a puppet that follows directives from the government cannot be ascertained. Zhenli Ye Gon has led the organization since the mid 1990's after carrying out a palace coup against the previous leadership during which older bosses died in a string of car bomb explosions.
Cao Trade Consortium
The Cao Trade Consortium was the alleged name of a drug cartel operating on the island of Cao. The group had strong ties with the local political and military elites and was purportedly protected by them. The consortium sourced their cocaine from the semi autonomous statelet of Chimoche where they had arrangements with the royal court to grow and process the coca plant. The cocaine was smuggled and sold in various parts of Cusinaut. After repeated complaints by Urcean authorities, six batallions of BSP agents descended on the island and proceeded to dismantle the consortium over a period of two months. In addition to consortium associates, some three hundred members of the police and the local party nomenklatura (including the entire presidium) were fired and arrested as accomplices to a criminal conspiracy. The fall of the consortium was also accelerated by complaints by the Xisheng Office of Contentment as some of the raw materials used by them were being diverted by Chimoche to the consortium.
House of Troubles
The wellness movement turned doomsday cult and terrorist group has been dealing with drug use since its earliest days. Zoov's disciples were advised to consume cannabis and cocaine to enter 'a propitious spiritual state', in this manner they could best receive the energy of the earth and absorb the teachings of Zoov. The group reportedly turned to harder drugs when it went underground such as inyecting heroine or cocaine laced with gunpowder, these drugs made the already fanatical members fight with great ferocity under delusions of invincibility. When the movement turned to using child suicide bombers against police targets, defectors of the group recount how Zoov instructed them to lie to the children by telling them that the cocaine they were being given would make their bodies strong enough to survive the explosions. The groups continued existence may be tied to its ability to self fund through the sale of drugs on a micro scale, small enough to go unnoticed by the government and other criminal groups.
Bando Gora
Bando Gora are a gang operating in the areas of Varshan annexed by Daxia. The group operates labs in the jungle where they manufacture important quantities of low quality crystal methamphetamine and smuggle it into settled areas of the ZRA and Varshan proper. The Bando Gora are notorious for worshipping the Arzalist Death God, raids by authorities into the jungle have documented the discovery of shrines with human and animal skulls, bones and hair. People previously reported as missing have been found murdered in gruesome ritualized fashion. The group is considered especially dangerous as the region is flooded with weapons after the end of the war.
Party of the Revolutionary Path
A successor movement to the Communist Party of Daxia that operates in the area between the borders of Huoxia, Canpei and Daxia. The PRP is a guerrilla movement fighting against all three states, its stated aim being land distribution for impoverished peasants, including those that plant poppy in secret. Narrowing the defunct CPD's aims to the concerns of rural areas, the PRP funds itself through 'revolutionary requisitions' from poppy farmers and makes its own cocaine that is transported through transnational smuggling routes deeper into Canpei and southwest Huoxia.
Government involvement
The matter of involvement by the Daxian government in the international drug trade is a matter of speculation and guesswork. The legality of the production, sale and consumption of most well known drugs inside the country leaves only international sales as truly illegal avenues of revenue. Fue to the need to maintain good diplomatic relations with other nations the Daxian government has always denied any accusations of criminal collusion in the drug trade. Nonetheless former government officials turned dissidents and exiles have repeatedly accused the state of building 'an invisible empire' in the drug world. The website StopThePoison.org owned by dissident Magi Chu published a report in 2018 detailing an operation from inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to transport thousands of captagon pills inside briefcases carried by diplomatic passport holders. The destination was allegedly the city of Alba Concordia and the pills would be distributed in the premises of the League of Nations to various delegates on behalf of international clients. The minister of foreign affairs rubbished the report as 'fake news and disinformation for the gullible' and invited League security to conduct an inspection of the Daxian diplomatic office; the inspection never took place.
Other cases revealed by the website include the publication of images of what appears to be a PDD membership card for Zhenli Ye Gong, top boss of the Daxian mafia. Also included are photos of him appearing at the venues of official state receptions and taking selfies with important politicians included Chancellor Dodd; when questioned on the subject at an international convention the Chancellor simply said that he meets hundreds of people and takes selfies everyday and cannot be expected to do background checks of everyone. If these reports are confirmed true this could be confirmation of an unprecedented string of complicities and the merging of government and crime into a single entity. One facet the government does not hide is its use of novel drug treatments to subdue people who resist it, ranging from dissidents forced to become addicts to heroin and locked up in insane asylums to the blanket sedating of people in Crona regardless of their age.
Consumption
Drug consumption has been on an upward trajectory for the past thirty years; data from the World Health Organization is predicting drug use will reach epidemic levels by 2040 unless urgent measures are taken to address the health emergency. Preliminary figures of addiction from the Ministry of Health show 23.8 million adult Daxians (aged 12 and older) have experienced substance abuse in 2023. Some medical professionals are skeptical of the numbers reported by the government, they estimate the figure could be as much as double the official numbers, 47 million drug addicts. Regardless of the true figure of drug addits, the government has been sluggish in its response first by constantly denying there is a health crisis and prosecuting medical experts for sounding the alarm and in the government's words 'sowing mistrust in national health authorities'. Reportedly police have started cracking down hard on those caught peddling drugs from non authorized sources, commiting extra-judicial executions of suspects, raiding Narcotics Anonymous meetings; all of these measures are seen as window dressing as long as the legality of most drugs and the big pharmaceuticals are not seriously tackled.
International links
Aciria: Daxian narcotics suppliers have long standing business ties with Acirian criminal organizations such as the Freed Men. Aciria is the main gateway for Daxian drugs into Sarpedon, a very large market and important part of the Daxian mafia's geographic diversification strategy.
Chimoche:The Autonomy of Chimoche is an important producer of the coca plant, their religious rituals make use of the coca leaf. The government of Daxia secured an exemption on religious grounds for Chimoche's production of coca from the League of Nations narcotics convention during the mandate of Shang Tsung, for which the latter was widely criticised for corrupt practices. A general assembly draft to revoke the exemption did not pass due to the inclusion of a suspected poison pill amendment submitted by the delegation of Canpei.
Caphiria:Authorities believe the National Opium Syndicate has longstanding ties with Caphiria's Savatu Brotherhood. A meeting in Arona between Semias Sephiran and Zhenli Ye Gon is reported to have taken place in 2020 where they closed a deal to supply captagon for the Caphirian markets.
Canpei:Local groups in Canpei have long been dominated by the Daxian mafia and operate as franchises, selling its product and kicking back part of the proceeds. Some of the more notorious entities are the Tao Pai gang, the Sky Brothers and the Brink mafia.
Rusana:This country has its own vast ecosystem of criminal groups and enterprises not subordinate to Daxian mafias. One of the largest and strongest organizations are the Ghazis of Harun who handle most of the drug smuggling that takes place through tunnels from Daxia and sex exploitation industry. The warlord Malik el Sami yn Nasser also has allegedly used the profits from illegal gold mining to set up his own operation to produce captagon to compete with Daxian product.